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The community of Ewan was found on the Galway Road  between Mount Irwin and the White Lake/Fortescue settlement. By the late 1800s, enough settlers had located beyond Mount Irwin that a new school section (SS # 5, Galway ) was formed. The school was located on Lot 30, Concession 15, roughly the corner of the South Salmon Lake Roadand the Galway Road.  A Post Office followed in 1894. The mail was teamed in from Furnace Falls via the White Lake Road, which was actually a shorter route from Kinmount. As in most settlements, there was no formal post office: the home of the post master served this purpose.

The land in the Ewan settlement was rough, swampy & poor for farming.  After a generation, most families moved to greener pastures: in Ewan’s case Western Canada . By 1918, the McMahons, Rosses & Becketts were all converted into Prairie farmers. Only the Jackson & White families remained. The Whites (Joe, Bob & Bill) bought out the abandoned homesteads and turned the area into a huge cattle ranch. In the 1920s, they charged $1.50 for young cattle & $2.00 per cow for a summer’s pasturage. The school was abandoned by this date, although the post office lingered until 1945. Today, very few signs remain of the Ewan settlers: just some abandoned fields & fence lines.

William McConnell came directly from Ireland to settle on the south side of White Lake .  Eventually friends from Ireland, the Dolans, moved to Canada and settled beside the McConnells. But the Dolans were Catholic & the McConnells Protestant: a faux pas in 1800s society. When this situation was realized, several Catholics from Mount Irwin ―re-located the Dolans in the Catholic community.  At least everyone remained friends!

The McMahon family were contractors: frame barns being their specialty. They constructed many of the big frame barns that still dot the area, albeit in ever decreasing numbers. Each barn builder had his special mark: Charles McMahon using the Maltese Cross. These identity symbols were placed high in the eaves. Anytime you pass a local barn, look up at the symbol in the eave & see if it is the stylized Maltese Cross favoured by Charles McMahon.

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